Running
by Aquamarine1212
Summary: Casey has always been running from things. But when the Kraang invade and start turning people into monsters, Casey finds himself running back home to save his family before it's too late. One-Shot. Takes place during Season 2 Finale. Rated T for intense/frightening scenes and angst.


**One-shots, one-shots everywhere...*cough* Anyways, I wrote (another) one-shot because I realized in the Season 2 Finale Casey goes off to find his family, and returns unsuccessful. Well then I had to wonder what had happened in that period of time, and then I had to turn it into a depressing one-shot. Go me! XD So, this is my speculation on what happened when Casey left to find his family. His little sister is Angel (if anybody's seen the old cartoons or read the comics you'll know who she is) and in this universe she's on the younger side. Soooo I guess that's all I've got to say, hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Of course I don't own TMNT.**

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Casey watched the three brothers and April disappear in his sideview mirror. His hands twitched nervously on the wheel. The moment Donnie had pointed out they couldn't leave Leo alone, Casey had seen his chance and jumped on it. He could go back and find his family. Funny, how he had always imagined the day he would be able to leave them so ardently, and now he was racing back towards them.

The bright yellow van rattled on down the road like big letters spelling out "EASY TARGET" were painted on the side. I mean, what could possibly have been _more_ conspicuous? Casey's hands gripped the wheel with till they shook as he passed by large crystallite stalactites that shot out of the road, pink and glittering totems of the the Kraang's universe, towering in a city they didn't belong. The van rumbled. He kept his eyes on the road. There was a sickening thud as the car's tires went over something left behind in the street and Casey flinched. Hopefully it was a some _thing_ , and not a...he cut his thoughts off firmly before he could think the words. A man stumbled out of an alleyway, blue liquid staining his skin, and even through the closed doors and windows the teenager could smell the acrid stench of flesh burning through the air vents. Quickly, he snapped off the air flow, breathing through his mouth heavily. The man's mouth opened in a scream Casey couldn't hear, and then he collapsed, convulsing on the ground like a wounded animal. His flesh was turning bright pink and his face was twisting in excruciating pain. Casey drove past and didn't look back. His hands were cold. His forehead was hot. He was burning and he was freezing.

The sudden slam against the vehicle made Casey scream, the sound tearing through his throat. His arms jerked on instinct, sending the car careening to the right before he quickly straightened it out. He glanced backwards, turning in his seat to see a pink, drooping face with a mess of eyes and mouths in all the wrong places plastered against the back window. Leo remained unconscious, his mouth slightly open and his head lolling around like dolls.

"How are you sleeping through all this man?!" Casey yelled, a slight whimper in his voice. The pink Kraang-man crawled its way upwards, every movement accompanied by a sucking noise on the glass.

"Ok, ok, I'm fine-" Casey cracked a crazed nervous grin. "Casey Jones is on it, right?" He made a sharp right turn and the tires squealed in protest. Pulling out of the skid, he floored the gas pedal, zipping down the road twenty miles faster than the speed limit, but heck, it wasn't like the police were gonna come after him. His heart was beating frantically. Yikes, at this rate he'd die of a heart attack long before the Kraang could kill him.

"That should have thrown him off," Casey sighed, turning to look at Leo, who had slid over to the side of the van and bumped against the wall, blood smeared where he had skidded on the floor. Ok, no more sharp turns, for his sake. Casey did not want to risk making the oldest brother's condition any worse. The others would kill him, probably literally, if he didn't uphold his promise to keep Leo safe. There was a sudden slap from in front of him and Jones whipped around to see a tentacled pink hand against the windshield.

"Oh, _come on_!" Casey groaned, slamming his head back against the seat. "Just leave me alone, you pink freak!" The mutation leaned over the top of the car to peer inside the vehicle and snarled with both it's mouths as Casey tried to see around it. "I can't see the road! Buzz off!" he yelled, pounding his fist on the glass in some sort of attempt to scare it off. His heart was thrumming like hummingbird wings in his chest. The Kraang-man slithered his way downwards until he was directly on top of the windshield, fully blocking Casey's view of the road. Casey's eyes darted around frantically for a moment before they locked onto the stick shift on the side of the wheel. _Duh! Why didn't I think of that sooner?_ He grabbed it and shifted it upwards, turning on the windshield wipers. The creature screamed wordlessly as the blades loosened its grip on the car and it slid away, tumbling onto the side of the road. With a deep breath, Casey left it behind in the exhaust fumes and smoke.

That used to be a person. The realization slammed him right in the gut. That thing was a person, with a life and a job and a family. And the Kraang had just...destroyed it. He muttered a curse under his breath, his eyes darkening. They wouldn't take his family from him though. Not on his life. He was coming back to save them, dysfunctional as they were they were still _his_. He clung to the thought and nurtured it till it became a flame, burning in his mind. They were his, and he would save them.

Before he knew it he was in front of the old apartment building. The teen carefully positioned the van, then turned it in reverse and backed it into an alleyway, trying his best to conceal it in the shadows. Again he wondered why it had to be a hippie van, full of flowers and rainbows. Ugh, they'd see him from a mile off in this thing. He cut off the engine and pulled out the key with a slight jerk and a frown. Not a moment too soon though; a Kraang ship swooped over the area, emanating that strange unearthly sound that their machines tended to make. Casey swallowed hard and ducked his head slightly. Nothing to see here, just an abandoned van in the alleyway…The ship grazed over the area almost lazily, waving it's metal tentacles in random patterns before disappearing. Casey let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in as it vanished.

Turning around in his seat, Casey threw a blanket over Leo in a vague attempt to conceal him in case anyone happened to look inside. He clicked all the locks on the doors, then slipped out and shut the van door behind him. Turning to face the brick apartment complex, he lifted an arm to run his hand through his shaggy black hair. His heart was thumping wildly. What would he find in there? There was no guarantee they were even here. If they were smart they would have run for it, leaving the city. Casey's chest ached at the thought for some reason and his stomach turned at the thought of them leaving. Still, he hadn't come all this way for nothing. Steeling himself, he flicked his hockey mask down, shielding his face and wiping the emotion from his expression. _Casey Jones will take whatever's in there with a brave face,_ he determined, then entered.

His first obstacle was the keycard scanner. He could always go back to the car and grab his keycard; he knew that it was hanging from the rearview mirror on a keychain- no. That'd take too long. Instead he glanced around furtively before he stuck his makeshift electrocution device right against the keycard slot. The entire mechanism crackled and popped for a moment, arcs of blue lightning flashing everywhere before something burst and the entire thing powered down. For a split second Casey cracked his gap-tooth grin, but then the lights flickered and shut down as well.

"Guess I hit it a little too hard," Casey mumbled to himself, scowling under his mask. In any case, the door wasn't sealed anymore, and so he crept out into the dark lobby. He was beelining for the elevator, but the second he smashed the 'Floor Five' button the realization that he had powered off everything - including the elevator - came back to him.

"No no no!" Casey pounded his hand against the elevator buttons. "Stupid elevator-!" With an over exaggerated groan, he gave up on it and instead went for the door that lead to the stairway. By the time he had reached the fifth floor he was sweating hard underneath his vigilante gear. How was it that busting Kraang heads for hours didn't tire him out, but five flights of stairs later he had to pause to catch his breath? Right about now Raph would be making some snarky comment about him being a wimp.

Casey pushed past his sore muscles and pressed on into the hallway. With the lights out and not a window to be found, the hallway was consumed by darkness. Cautiously, Casey took out his phone and used the screen's light to penetrate the shadows. His throat tightened slightly. How long had it been this time? Three days since he had been home. The memories of the fight came back to him, his father swinging at him drunkenly and his sister cowering in the corner, brown eyes wide with fear. Slurred insults had been thrown at him like knives. Then Casey had left. Whenever his dad fought him he left. Sometimes for a day, sometimes for a week. Had he known what was coming, he would have stayed. He would have never dared to leave them. But it was far too late for that now. His throat constricting, Casey went through the door.

The apartment was a mess. Broken bottles were strewn all over the floor. The TV had been knocked off the stand and lied, shattered, on the floor with wires poking out of it every-which-way. Casey took in the damage and his gut plummeted. There were signs of a scuffle evident in the room. One long streak of purple blood-goo was smeared against the wall and Casey's breath hitched. Kraang blood. The window was open and so a slight breeze wafted inside, and the curtains billowed gracefully. They had been taken, just like the rest of the city. How could he have been so stupid as to expect anything else-?

"Who the 'ell are you?"

Casey whipped around in surprise towards the direction of the noise to find a pre-teen girl standing behind him with a crowbar in her hand. Her brown eyes were fierce and purple streaks ran through her hair. All of a sudden the guilt and grief vanished and Casey grinned under his mask.

"Angel," he said with a huge sigh. "I thought you were Kraang-itized." The vigilante flipped up his hockey mask and cocked his head playfully, a grin playing at his lips. The girl immediately lowered the crowbar, eyes widening. Silence hung thick in the air, like a cloud, and Casey shifted uncomfortably, the cocky grin fading from his expression. The girl's face twisted from confusion, to shock, to relief, but she quickly settled on anger.

"Where the heck were you?!" she shouted, waving her crowbar around for emphasis. Casey didn't give her the pleasure of seeing him cringe, although his muscles desperately wanted to.

"Out," Casey said, not able to stop a hint of bitterness from creeping into his voice.

"For three days?!" Angel stood a step forwards, curling her lip. "I've had to deal with our drunk excuse for a dad for three days, and you just conveniently disappear, as always! Then the aliens come, and who isn't there for us?" She jabbed her finger into his chest, her eyes on fire. " _You._ Instead you're off doing who-knows-what, dressed like a some sort of...chainsaw killer!" She motioned at his strange getup.

"What are you so angry about?! You aren't the one who got beat up!" Casey yelled, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her backwards. "Did you want me to stick around so he could finish the job and send me to the hospital?"

"No!" Angel screamed, her voice breaking. "You're wrong, he wouldn't do that! You should have stayed and helped him. Helped me! But you just ran away again, like the coward that you are!" Casey slightly recoiled at her words, regarding the girl with disgust.

"You think I'm a coward," he growled. He could feel the vein in his neck pulsing and he ground his teeth together. "Am I coward when I don't fight back? Am I a coward when I let him hurt me? I could beat him up, I could do to him what he does to me, I could send him to the hospital easily, and I'm the coward?!" Before Angel could reply there was a loud thump from the bedroom, and both of them jumped. Casey's eyes shot to the door. There was a slight pause, a moment when the entire room seemed to be holding it's breath. Then it came again.

 _Thump._

"Angel…?" Casey trailed off, turning his eyes to his younger sister. Every trace of his previous anger had dissipated and been replaced with fear. "What is that?"

 _Thump._

Casey nearly jumped out of his skin. There it was again - like something was hitting the door. Angel's eyes steeled over as she turned to him, her gaze bitter. He could see the tears glistening at the corners of her eyes as she fought against them.

"Like I said-" Her voice cracked. "You weren't there for us."

 _Thump._

"If you're always running away, why do you come back?" she snarled, using the back of her hand to wipe away the tears. The ripped up blue hoodie sleeves became dark with moisture. "Why don't you just leave if that's what you want so much?"

 _Thump._

"Cause I can't leave you alone with him!" Casey's voice was shrill. "If he doesn't take it out on me, then it'll be you, and I can't let that happen!"

 _Thump._

"Stop talking about him like he's the bad guy!" Angel screeched, rushing forwards and throwing a flurry of punches at Casey. "He's our dad!" Casey easily blocked off each one of her wild throws. She made a crazed swing at his head, and this time he caught her hand mid air and grabbed the other one before she could come at him with it. Angel struggled against him, kicking and biting and clawing, but Casey didn't falter.

 _Thump._

"Angel, what's making that noise?" Casey's voice was strong and commanding. Angel choked back a sob, still struggling against him.

"It's your fault!" she shouted, kicking against his kneepad in vain. "It's all your stinking fault! You left us!"

 _Thump._

"What is it?!" Casey screamed, tightening his grip. His mask slid down over his face when he looked downwards, snapping into place and closing him off from her. Closing him off from any sort of emotion. Angel regarded him with hatred flickering behind her gaze.

"It's dad," she spat, blinking away fresh tears. "I didn't know what to do, so I drove him in there and I locked the door. And you weren't there for him or for me." Casey released his sister as realization began to dawn upon him. Angel jerked away and hugged her chest, regarding him coldly and biting her lip.

 _Thump._

The man he feared and hated, the man he couldn't bear to look at but couldn't bear to leave, the one person in his life he couldn't bring himself to stand up against- he was gone. Reduced to something inhuman. It almost made him...relieved.

 _Thump._

Casey's moment of dazed comprehension faded. "Angel, we have to leave," he said, grabbing her hand and clutching it tightly.

"So you just want to leave him here," Angel accused, jerking out of his grasp. Her lip curled in disgust. "You wanted him to die, didn't you? You've just been waiting for this." Casey's chest erupted in anger, bubbling with it, seething, as he turned on his heel. The boy used his arm to slam her against the wall. Angel gasped, her face turning shocked at the gesture of violence. Casey's eyes narrowed behind his mask. He wanted to hit her so badly. He wanted to knock her teeth out, bruise her chest, show her what he had been protecting her from. He was the _good guy_. How could she not see that?

"Don't ever say that again," Casey growled, his voice rough and coarse. "I never wanted this to happen, alright? Even when he hurt me, I never hurt him back, so don't you dare accuse me of wanting him gone." Angel opened her mouth, but what she was going to say Casey never did find out, because there was an unearthly screech that ripped through the air before the bedroom door crashed down, revealing a pink Kraang-human, stumbling out clumsily. It's head was too big for it's body and so it swayed back and forth, tentacles waving around like it was blind and was trying to find something to anchor itself to.

"RUN!" Casey screamed, grabbing his sister's hand and pulling them both out the door. The Kraang-Man's head jerked towards his voice and it screamed again, charging towards them in a blind stupor. Casey skidded into the hallway and jerked Angel along, his heart pounding. He couldn't lose her now, not when he was so close to his escape. Angel's own heart was beating in her chest, erratic and fast.

"Casey, what is he going to do to us? Casey, wait! What if-" Angel began to argue, pulling against him, but the teen whipped around, his pupils shrinking in terror.

"Just run you idiot!" he shrilled, pushing her ahead of him to the staircase. Angel threw a terrified glance backwards as she started to clomp her way down the stairs, Casey close in tow. Behind them they could hear the Kraang-Man clattering his way downwards, gargling incomprehensibly.

"Too slow, too slow-" Casey wanted to pull out his hair. "Ok, hold on tight Angel!" Jones quickly scooped his sister up, bridal-style, and then slid the roller blades out of his shoes with a sharp _shiiing_. Well, he'd always wanted to try this. With a great amount of dumb courage, he skated forwards, coming straight at the next flight of stairs-

"YOU'RE GONNA KILL US!" Angel screamed, clutching to his sweatshirt. At the last second, Casey jumped. They sailed through the air, descending at an alarming rate, until Casey hit the island before the next flight with a large bang that shook his teeth. Then, before he could think about just how dangerous this was, he jumped again and they sailed over another flight of stairs. Angel's mouth suddenly turned upwards into a grin and she whooped as they flew over the next set of stairs.

"This - is - amazing!" she screamed as Casey flew over the last flight. Casey couldn't help himself; he let out a holler - _"Goongala!"_ \- as they raced into the lobby, flying around like there was no tomorrow and skating straight out the front door into the street.

"We did it!" Casey shouted, making a wide turn and beelining for the alleyway. The van was only a few yards away and his chest felt like it might burst. He had done it. He had saved her. In that moment, he was glowing. For once in his life, he hadn't messed it up. For once in his life, he was the hero.

And then the moment ended.

The droid came out of nowhere. Flying out from the opposite street and zooming down the alleyway, straight at them. It aimed. It fired. In the same moment, Casey threw a hockey-puck bomb straight at it. Both hit their marks dead-on. The puck exploded and the droid fizzled out, dropping to the ground like a fly. The mutagen hit his sister's face, while she was still in his arms. She screamed and Casey instinctively dropped her. When she hit the ground something cracked. Casey flinched and his eyes widened.

"Angel!" he stared, horrified, as she began to writhe on the pavement, desperately trying to get the mutagen off her face, but that only got it on her hands. He could smell it in the air - her flesh was burning. Casey's throat constricted and he reached for her, but she couldn't see him. She rolled onto her back and gasped, her throat closing off so that she couldn't even scream. Her mouth opened and nothing came out. Desperately she started to claw at her face with her nails and rip out her hair until she started to bleed. The crimson leaked out of her wounds and streaked down her face as her back arched up and she gagged. Casey's head spun and he blinked rapidly.

"No," Casey bit his lip and shook his head. His vision was blurred and he could hardly breathe. "No, it's not fair! It's not fair, dammit! Give her back!" Casey pounded his fist on the pavement and screamed. "GIVE HER BACK!" Angel's face started to twist and contort as spasms rippled throughout her body. Her eyes stared up the sky, empty. "IT'S NOT FAIR!" Casey's vocal cords ached at the scream he let loose. Tears were falling all over his face until he was a hot, sticky mess of them. Angel's skin was watermelon-pink and her arms were stretching out, turning into tentacles. Her eyes, still brown and wide and _human_ , were clouded but filled with fear. She screamed again, her tentacles flying through the air, wiggling around like worms. And then for a moment, Casey knew she could see, because when her tentacles came into her line of vision, she screamed and her brown eyes became horror-filled. Casey couldn't watch it anymore, watch her suffering, so he did what he always ended up doing.

He ran.

He couldn't feel it when his feet hit the pavement. He couldn't feel his hands opening the van door and starting up the car. He couldn't feel his foot push the gas petal. All he could see was her, staring up with brown human eyes and seeing what she had become. For a split second, seeing that she was a monster.

When he drove away, he didn't look back. Maybe she was right. Maybe he was too much of a coward to look back. Maybe this was what he really was, just a boy running away. Not a hero or a vigilante or a good guy. He was a rabbit, always running and always hiding.

He had had her in his arms. She was there, she was real, and they were so close to escape-

"It's not fair," Casey sobbed, half-heartedly punching the wheel. Buildings flashed past in blurs of gray and brown. "Please, just give her back…"

Everything else sort of passed by in a blur. He came back to the rendezvous point. He saw them battling and losing, so he drove the van straight into the Kraang Prime, sending it careening down the street. Then the four of them jumped into the van, and then they were all running together, leaving the city in a hippie van with flowers and rainbows. He wanted to burn the van and its false cheer. He wanted to destroy it.

Finally, the blur and haze faded away as they passed the city limits and it sunk in. They were gone now. Everything; the entire city was reduced to a pink, crystal hell and his family had gone down with it.

"Did you find your family Casey?" April asked softly. The look in her eyes meant that she already knew the answer. Casey's hands shook on the wheel, but one glance at the foursome in the back and he had made his decision. He had to be the strong one now, because everyone back there looked absolutely broken.

"They were already Kraang-itized by the time I got there," Casey lied, more for his own sake than anything else. How could he tell them that his little sister had turned into a monster yards away from the van, in his arms no less? How could he possibly tell them that it had been his fault, that he hadn't been there for her when she needed him? He would break, and then nobody would be the strong one. So for now he'd just pretend. He almost liked it better that way - he could pretend that there had been nobody there when he had shown up at the apartment, that he had come to a quick assumption of their fate and left. Yes, he liked that story a lot better.

April didn't say a word, just leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, but he couldn't find any comfort from her. He was a coward. And he would always be running from those haunted brown eyes.


End file.
